CHAPEL HILL – Xilis, a startup founded by two professors at Duke University focusing on precision health and oncology, has closed on $3 million in financing.
According to an SEC filing, Xilis raised $2,999,999 of a $3 million offering.
Six investors are backing the company, which launched earlier this year.
CEO and cofounder Xiling Shen signed the filing. His partner is David Shiao-Wen.
Here’s how venture capital data base site Crunchbase describes the venture:
Xiling Shen
“Xilis is a Stanford PhD and a PhD from UNC Chapel Hill (both now Duke University professors focused on oncology and precision health) came together for this company out of their acute awareness that when someone is diagnosed with cancer, finding the right treatment frequently takes months and often comes with countless side effects. To speed along the process, their company, Xilis, uses “micro-organoids” to make thousands of 3D replicas of a patient’s tumor in about six days, which the company says can be used for testing for drug compatibility faster.”
According to Duke University, “Shen’s research interests lie at precision medicine and systems biology. His lab integrates engineering, computational and biological techniques to study cancer, stem cells, microbiota and the nervous system in the gut. This multidisciplinary work has been instrumental in initiating several translational clinical trials in precision therapy. He is the director of the Woo Center for Big Data and Precision Health (DAP) and a core member of the Center for Genomics and Computational Biology (GCB).”
Shiao-Wen is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the William Dalton Family Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology, in the School of Medicine. He also is a ember of the Duke Cancer Institute
Read the complete filing online.
